This annual $1000 cash prize is awarded by the Michigan Quarterly Review editorial board to the author of the best short story published in MQR that year. Established in 1978, the prize is sponsored by University of Michigan alumnus and fiction writer Leonard S. Bernstein, a trustee of the Lawrence Foundation of New York. Approximately eight short stories are published in MQR each year.

The winner for 2012 is Rebecca Makkai for her story “Cross,” which appeared in the Summer 2012 issue.

Laurence Goldstein Prize

This annual $500 cash prize is awarded to the author of a poem or group of poems published that year in Michigan Quarterly Review. The award was established in 2002 by a generous gift from the Office of the President of the University of Michigan. A different judge is selected each year by the university. Approximately fifty poems are published in MQR each year.

The 2021 winner, selected by Martha Collins, is  Angie Estes for her poems “Le Plaisir” and “Item:”, which appeared in the Fall 2012 issue. 

Page Davidson Clayton Prize
for Emerging Poets

Created in 2009 by Mac and Meg Clayton to honor the memory of Page Davidson Clayton, this prize, in the amount of $500, is awarded by the editors each year to the best poet appearing in Michigan Quarterly Review who has yet to publish a book.

The winner of the third annual Clayton Prize is Margaret Reges, whose work appeared in the Winter 2012 issue.

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These awards are not part of a contest. Only works published in the Michigan Quarterly Review are eligible, and all works published in the relevant categories are automatically considered for the awards. Click here for our submission guidelines.